Faceted recesses in the stone-clad facade of this office building in the Iranian capital, Tehran, contain wooden louvres that provide shade to the large windows behind (+ slideshow).
Located on a major boulevard in the city, the offices were designed by local architecture firm AWE Office for Nik Baspar, a company specialising in the production of building materials.
It is one of the latest examples of the architecture boom in Iran, prompted by the lifting of economic sanctions.

The architects sought to create a building of an appropriate scale for its heavily built-up context, but also wanted to create an attractive form that doesn't stand out as overtly brash or over designed.

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"The plan was to develop office use whilst providing an attractive space for visitors through the design and organisational order apparent in the building," architect Amir Shahrad told Dezeen.
"We avoided providing an icon, but rather aimed at creating a neutral form in this high-density urban texture."

The six-storey tower's aesthetic was influenced by the work of celebrated Iranian architect, Abdol Aziz Farmanfarmaian, whose large-scale 1970s housing projects, Vanak Park Towers and the Saman Complex, are situated nearby.
In particular, the simplicity of Abdol Aziz Farmanfarmaian's architecture and its repetition of facade elements is evoked in the restrained street-facing elevation of the Nik B...